I Cried Watching Poltergeist

April 11, 2016

Since becoming a mother, I have become extra sensitive when it comes to kids. I tear up easily, whether I’m hearing/watching/reading a sad or happy story.

In today’s cruel world, unfortunate children in many parts of the world are suffering. They are suffering from malnutrition and disease, with no shelter or roof over their heads. Basically, they lack the decent and basic necessities every kid should have. In war-torn countries where poverty is widespread, this is the reality. What’s more disappointing is that political differences and human ego have become the cause of this destruction and a hindrance to a solution.

Where a kid in one country is enjoying lavish meals every day and snuggled warmly in bed every night accompanied by starry night lights on the bedroom ceiling, a kid in another country is struggling to even get a piece of bread and seeking refuge from one place to another. Be it in the middle east, Africa or Myanmar — there are kids who are suffering and some, have even lost their parents.

I hope that when my daughter grows up, she understands how lucky she is.

We should all be grateful for the comfortable life we have.

On the other hand, there are also children who are brought into this world and have everything a kid could ask for — with the exception of good health. It’s very heartbreaking to see babies and children suffer from health conditions. However, I believe God has planned everything for a reason and God will take care of the innocent ones. Paradise awaits them.

A few nights ago while channel-hopping with the TV remote, coincidentally I stumbled upon 3 channels depicting stories revolving around a child:

i) a child gone missing after school

ii) a child kidnapped by her father’s lover for her selfish agenda

iii) a child trapped on the other side, in the realm of spirits

The third one is a one-liner synopsis of the latest installation of Poltergeist. A horror flick it is, but I ended up tearing.

(Spoiler alert warning especially for horror moviegoers!)

In the movie, a couple’s young daughter (about the age of six or seven) gets trapped in the realm of ghosts and spirits, with her bedroom closet as a portal between both worlds. Just when her mother decides to enter that realm to bring back her daughter with the help of a medium, the girl’s elder brother (around the age of ten or eleven) takes it upon himself to do the rescuing, sprouting from a guilty conscious of not taking care of his sister earlier. Just as he makes it in to the other side, his parents are prevented from doing the same.

Travelling through the dark world of the unrest, her brother successfully brings back his sister. The scene of them coming back is heartwrenching. They are spat out from the other side, unconscious. The parents quickly put the two into a bathtub filled with water to wake them from an uncertain slumber.

This was the scene that got me teared. What if they don’t come back?

But they did. I was so happy I wanted to hug them, through the telly. I never knew Poltergeist was such a family-oriented film.